How sustainable is Veja ?

Veja & sustainability

Reasonable, could be better
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16 out of 36

Sustainability summary

Based on our sustainability criteria, Veja has achieved the C-label. The company earns good points on their material use and their avoidance on the use of hazardous chemicals. Concerning labour conditions, VEJA needs to make more steps to prove that workers are compensated fairly.

Questions about Environmental Policy

10 out of 16

1. Does the brand (company) use environmentally 'preferred' raw materials for more than 5% of its volume?

Veja uses to some extent preferable raw materials for its products, such as natural rubber, organic cotton or recycled plastics. But Veja does not give a clear percentage share on the total use of preferred materials used, a share higher than 25% can be considered certain however.

8. Does the brand (company) have a clear and effective policy to minimize environmental pollution of chromium and other harmful substances from leather tanning processes, e.g. by waste water treatment or by vegetable tanning?

Veja reports that the used leather comes from a tannery with a gold certification according to the Leather Working Group.

13. Has the brand (company) a clear and effective policy to minimize the use of solvents based chemicals in their shoe production, and has the brand already achieved a level of average max. 40 grams of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) emissions per pair of shoes?

Veja does not provide information about the use of solvent based chemicals like adhesives.

14. Does the brand (company) have clear objectives to minimize the environmental impact of its shipping packaging and carrier bags, by reducing, re-using, recycling and responsible sourcing of packaging materials, and does the brand annually report on these results?

VEJA shoe boxes are made out of recycled cardboard. They do not contain glue and minimize the use of ink, thus facilitating recycling.

Questions about Labour Conditions/ Fair Trade

4 out of 14

1. Does the brand (company) have a supplier Code of Conduct (CoC) which includes the following standards: No forced or slave labor, no child labor, no discrimination of any kind and a safe and hygienic workplace?

The factory audits of VEJA are performed following the ETI base Code, which complies to this criterium.

2. Does this CoC include at least two of the following workers rights: 1. to have a formally registered employment relationship 2. to have a maximum working week of 48 hours with voluntary and paid overtime of 12 hours maximum 3. to have a sufficient living wage?

3. Does this Code of Conduct include the right for workers to form and join trade unions and bargain collectively; and in those situations where these rights are restricted under law, the right to facilitate parallel means of independent and free association and bargaining?

6. Is the brand (company) a member of a collective initiative that aims to improve labor conditions, or does the brand (company) purchase its supplies from accredited factories with improved labor conditions?

Veja does not communicate up to date information about being part of a collective initiative or purchasing from an accredited supplier.

12. Does the brand (company) implement a policy to establish the payment of living wages at its apparel manufacturers? Are at least first living wage payments realised?

VEJA reports that average wages in their factory are substantially higher than the minimum wage. However, the 2018 audit report suggests this is industry average, and lies far below the calculated local living wage.

13. Does the brand (company) annually report on the results of its labor conditions policy for the leather, yarn and fabric production phases, including a reasonable overview of the number and region of workplaces covered by the policy in relation to the total production volume?

Concrete results of Veja's labour conditions policy for leather producers and the fabric manufacturing phases from spinning to final fabric for cotton are not reported.